Removable buttons



Nov. 6, 1962 M. s. HOLMAN 3,061,902-

REMOVABLE BUTTONS Filed June 6, 1960 lnvenlor (Jaye/q s irwn Holman why United States Patent Office dfihlfihz Patented Nov. 6, 1952 3,061,902 REMOVABLE BUTTONS Mayer S. Holman, Dr. K. M. Hairman, 615 SA.

Mutual Bldgs., Gardiner St., Durban, Natal, Republic of South Africa Filed June 6, 1960, Ser. No. 33,998 Claims priority, application Great Britain June 18, 1959 4 Claims. (Ci. 24-97) The present invention relates to removable buttons, and primarily, but not exclusively, buttons intended for use with articles of wearing apparel, especially protective overalls, coats and the like.

Protective clothing of the type commonly worn by workers in laboratories and hospitals, requires frequent washing for reasons of hygiene and appearance, and the task of laundering can be made both more rapid and effective if the buttons are removed prior to laundering. It is, therefore, usual to provide overalls and other articles of protective clothing with removable buttons, the type most commonly employed comprising a button head with a metal shankterminating in an eyelet. The two pieces of material to be buttoned together are each provided with holes, one with conventional button holes, and the other with shank or eyelet holes much smaller than the button holes and in register with them. The eyelets of the buttons are inserted through the shank or eyelet holes, and the buttons secured the-rein by means of split rings looped through the eyelet on the side of the material remote from the head of the button.

1 Removable button of this type-though satisfactory in many respects suffer fromtwo disadvantages. In the first place, their-insertion and removal is tedious and time consuming, and secondly the split rings can be misplaced. 1 1

It is an object of this invention to reduce or overcome these disadvantages.

t Thi object is achieved by the button according to this invention comprising a head having front and rear surfaces, a short flexible shank of narrow flat strip form projecting rearwardlyfrom the said rear surface and having a rear end located at a position spaced from the rear surface of the head, and a narrow elongated retaining bar carried by said shank at the said rear end thereof and extending transversely of the shank, a first portion of said bar extending to one side of the said shank and having a length substantially equal to the length of the shank, a second portion of said arm extending to the opposite side of saidshank and having a length'a least equal to that of-the said first arm portion.

Inv order that the retaining arm and shank can be passedthrough a standard eyelet hole such as that, for example, used on goods sold under the names Tee Sav. and Lybro in South Africa andhaving a diameter of about dig; the length of the shank is conveniently about A", the retaining arm projecting beyond the-shank at one side for a distance equal to about /4" and at the other side for a distance equal to about The button according to this invention comprises a single member instead of the two members, i.e. button and ring, of conventional removable buttons. This single member may be formed in one piece from a single material or may be formed from joined parts of similar or different materials. Thus the head may be formed from a material providing a particular decorative appearance, Whilst the shank and retaining arm are formed of a material which will give the shank the required flexibility. In one preferred form, the button may be formed as a one-piece moulding of a synthetic resin material. Any suitable conventional synthetic resin material may be used, preferred examples being nylon and a mixture of copolymers of vinyl chloride and vinylidene chloride.

The button could also be formed in one piece from natural or synthetic rubber or other suitable material. In another convenient form, the head, shank and retaining arm may be formed integrally from a suitable metal.

Although the rear surface of the head may be of flat form, preferably, according to a further feature of this invention, this rear surface is dished to enable the button head to lie more closely against the material to which it is secured.

Desirably, means are provided for locking the retaining arm temporarily in its pivoted position. Such means may conveniently comprise a projection on, or a recess in, the rear surface of the button head.

Advantageously, according to a still further feature of the invention, the portion of the retaining arm to one side of the shank is of greater length than the portion to the other side.

In order that this invention may more readily be understood and further features appreciated, reference will now be made by way of example to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a rear perspective view of one embodiment of button according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-section through the button of FIGURE 1;

FIGURES 3 and 4 are perspective views illustrating the securing of the button of FiGURES 1 and 2 to the material on which it is required; and FIGURES 5, 6 and 7 are cross-sections similar to FIG- URE 2 of three further embodiments of the button according to this invention.

Referring to FIGURES 1 to 4, the button there illustrated comprises a disc-shaped head 1, a retaining arm 2 and a shank '3 connecting the head 1 to the arm 2. The shank 3 is a flat strip 50 that it is flexible in one plane only and projects perpendicularly outwardly from the rear surface of the head 1 and the retaining arm 2 is also a flat strip extending transversely across the outer end of the shank. Advantageously, as shown in the drawings, the portion of the retaining arm to one side of the shank is longer than the portion to the other side of the latter, the shorter portion being indicated by the reference numeral 4 and the longer portion being indicated by the reference numeral 5. The portion 4 of the arm 2 is of substantially the same length as the shank and the rear surface of the head 1 is dished as shown except at the peripheral portion adjacent the portion 4 of the retaining arm, so as to provide a stop projection 6 at such rear surface.

The material of the shank 3 is thinner than that of the head 1 and retaining arm 2 and the button of this embodiment is formed as a one-piece moulding from a suitable material such that the shank 3 is flexible, but that the head 1 is rigid or substantially rigid and the retaining bar 2 is semi-rigid or partially flexible. A suitable material for such a button would be a mixture of copolymers of vinyl chloride and vinylidene chloride or nylon, although other synthetic resin materials, e.g. polyethylene, or natural or synthetic rubber, or metal may be used.

The button described with reference to FIGURES 1 to 4, is intended to be used on garments, e.g. protective overalls, coats, ladies dresses or the like, provided with standard eyelet holes, such as that illustrated in FIG- URES 3 and 4 as being provided in a piece of material 7 and indicated by the reference numeral 8. Such a hole 8 has a diameter of the order of In attaching the button described to a piece of material 7, the retaining arm 2 first is pivoted about the junction of the arm with the shank mainly by flexing of the latter adjacent such junction, but also by some flexing adjacent the head, so that the portion 4 of the arm moves downwardly towards the rear surface of the head 3 and is locked in its pivoted position by engagement with the stop projection 6 as shown in FIGURE 3. The button is then moved relatively to the material in the direction of the arrow in FIGURE 3 so that the portion of the retaining arm passes through the hole 8 and the material around the periphery of the latter pushed over the shank 3 and portion 4 of the retaining arm and into the dishing of the head 1 and the retaining arm finally pivoted back to its original position so that such arm extends transversely across the hole 8 on the opposite side of the latter from the head 1 to secure the button firmly to the material.

The construction of the button according to this invention so that it can be secured to a piece of material in the manner just described enables a very short shank to be used so that the button is held closely against the material in its secured position and does not dro-op in an unsightly fashion and also enables a long and at least substantially semi-rigid retaining bar to be used so that the latter cannot be pulled through the eyelet hole by even a substantial pull on the button head.

The dishing of the rear surface of the button head reduces the amount that the rear or outer end of the shank projects outwardly beyond the plane containing the peripheral edge of the head and thus aids in ensuring that in the secured button the head lies closely against the material to which the button is secured.

In the case where the hole 8 has a diameter of the order of the length of the shank may have a value as small as bout /4", the shorter portion 4 of the retaining arm having about the same length. A convenient length for the longer portion 5 of this arm would be A FIGURES 5 to 7 illustrate further embodiments of buttons according to this invention, these being similar to that embodiment illusratted in FIGURES 1 to 4, but with the following differences:

In the embodiment of FIGURE 5, the stop projection 6 extending inwardly from the periphery of a head 1 is replaced by a stop 9 projecting rearwardly from the rear surface of the head.

In the embodiment of FIGURE 6 no stop projection is provided, the retaining arm being held manually in its pivoted position during securing of the button.

In the embodiment of FIGURE 7, the rear surface of the button head 1 is not dished, but is provided with a groove 10 for locking the retaining arm temporarily in its pivoted position.

Although the above-described embodiments are formed as one piece from a single material, the button could be formed initially as more than one part, these part being subsequently permanently secured together, and such parts may be formed of the same or different materials.

Further, the shapes of the various parts may be varied from those illustrated. Thus the head may be of square, polygonal or any other convenient shape and the shank and retaining arm need not be flat, but could be of other convenient forms, e.g. elliptical.

It will be appreciated that the button according to this invention is of simple, easily made, construction and is readily secured to, and removed from, the material on which it is required.

I claim:

1. A removable button comprising a head having front and rear surfaces, a flexible shank projecting rearwardly centrally from the rear surface and having a rear end located at a position spaced from the rear surface of the head, a retaining arm carried by said shank at the said rear end thereof and extending transversely of the shank, a first portion of said arm extending to one side of the said shank and having a length substantially equal to the length of the shank, a second portion of said arm extending to the opposite side of said shank and having a length at least equal to that of the said first arm portion, the first and second arm portion having free outer ends, and means on the rear surface of the head positioned to be engaged by the said outer end of the first arm portion when the latter is moved towards the rear surface of the head by pivoting about the rear end of the shank for locking the said outer end of the first arm portion temporarily in a position adjacent the rear surface of the head.

2. The button specified in claim 1 in which the said means comprises a stop projection on the rear surface of the head.

3. A removable button comprising a disc-shaped head having a dished rear surface, a flexible shank of fiat strip form projecting rearwardly centrally from the said rear surface and having a rear end located at a position spaced from the rear surface of the head, a retaining arm carried by said shank at the rear end thereof and extending transversely of the shank in a direction perpendicular to the plane thereof, a first portion of said arm extending to one side of the said shank and having a length substantially equal to the length of the shank, a second portion of said arm extending to the opposite side of said shank and having a length at least equal to that of the said first arm portion, the first and second arm portions having free, outer ends, and a stop projection on said rear surface of the head and positioned below the said first arm portion to be engaged by the said outer end of the first arm portion when the latter is moved towards the rear surface of the head by pivoting about the rear end of the shank for locking the said outer end of the first arm portion temporarily in a position adjacent the rear surface of the head.

4. The button specified in claim 3 in which the retaining arm is also of flat strip form and has its plane perpendicular to the direction of length of the shank.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 278,314 Costello May 29, 1883 665,042 Van Der Linden Jan. 1, 1901 697,812 Crabb Apr. 15, 1902 FOREIGN PATENTS 42,278 Germany Feb. 22, 1888 394,334 Great Britain June 21, 1933 

